Diffuser construction



Y- 1965 G. J. SWEENEY ETAL 3,217,528

DIFFUSER CONSTRUCTION Filed March 6, 1965 INVENTORS GEORGE J. SWEENEY BY ROCCO R. BORZONE ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,217,628 DIFFUSER CONSTRUCTION George J. Sweeney, Plandome, N.Y., and Rocco R. Borzone, Emerson, N..l., assignors to Air Devices, Inc., New York, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 6, 1963, Ser. No. 263,328 Claims. (CI. 98-40) The present invention relates to a diffuser construction, and it particularly relates to a method of assembly of a diffuser construction.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a novel diffuser construction and particularly a method of assembling the same in which the deflecting vane construction may be readily manufactured at low cost and assembled with the diffuser.

Another object is to provide a novel ceiling diffuser and particularly a method of assembly of same in which the built in diffusing vanes may be formed of sheet metal stock or strip materials so as to spread the air properly over the ceiling area, and rapidly diffusing the incoming air assuring thorough mixture of the room air with the incoming ventilating or conditioning air.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

Although not limited thereto, the present invention will be particularly described to a square or rectangular ceiling diffuser in which there is an outside frame for mounting in an opening in the ceiling which frame will enclose a removable core carrying a series of oblique contact deflector elements spaced from one another between which are located the diffusing vanes.

These diffusing vanes are mounted upon the oblique parallel structure elements and are desirably stamped or cut from a single sheet or strip of metal so that the entire strip may be placed in position upon said oblique parallel structure elements.

In the basic structure, there -will be an inside throat element of rectangular cross section which will have a central axis perpendicular to the ceiling with the outer ends being flared outwardly to form the parallel oblique elements which tend to deflect the incoming air outwardly as it is divided to a multiplicity of jets by the air diffusing vanes.

These oblique structures or louvers will extend in spaced rows parallel to the sides of the supporting frame and may all be enclosed in an outside collar.

This outside collar will enable ready removability from the outside frame and will carry the louver as well as the vanes supported by and between said louver.

It is possible by arranging the louvers with their associated vanes to provide for different directions or flow so that there may be one, two, three or four way flow of outgoing conditioning or ventilating air.

The important feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the vanes between the louvers are formed from a strip by cutting said strip in such a way that the trapezoidal shaped vanes may be die cut integrally therefrom while the portion of the strips from which they are cut may then be bent so that it will conform to and be positioned against the oblique outer portion as well as the inside straight throat portion of the louver constructions.

In this manner, it is possible to mount the diffusing vanes between the obliquely positioned louvers by placing the entire strip therein without the necessity of mounting each vane individually with spot welding or other connections to each oblique vane or pair of vanes.

This will result in great savings in the cost of assembly and at the same time will give a stronger construction.

This construction will permit use of lighter weight or gauge metal materials.

With the. foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a bottom perspective view of the preferred assembly according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an end side top plan view of the assembly according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken upon the line 33 of FIG. 2 upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view taken upon the line 4-4 of FIG. 2 upon an enlarged scale as compared to FIG, 2.

FIG. 5 is a top plan view showing the die cut strip after the outline of the vanes has been formed but before folding of the strip and turning up of the vanes from the base thereof.

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary top perspective view of the arrangement of FIG. 5 showing the vanes turned up from the strip after die cutting and the inturned edge folded up from the main portion of the strip.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, there is shown a metal strip A from which a series of vanes B may be die out.

After the vanes B have been die cut, they will be formed as indicated in FIG. 6 so as to extend upwardly from the base portion C of the strip A with an inside edge portion D turned upwardly.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the diffuser body itself is formed with a series of oblique louvers E with inside throat portions F which will be suitably joined at the corners G as shown in FIG. 2, to form a series of parallel louvers as indicated in FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, the rectangular diffuser is shown as having a four-way distribution pattern as indicated by the arrows H but it is obvious that a one way, two or three way effect could also be achieved by different spacings and arrangement of the louvers E.

The entire unit as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be readily positioned in an outside frame in the ceiling having the same outside shape.

This outside frame will have the same interior conformation so as to conform to the external conformation of the diffuser and retain the same in position by way of suitable detachable connections.

Referring particularly to FIGS. 5 and 6, each vane B is so die cut from the strip A as to leave a free top edge 20 and outside and inside vertical edges 21 and 22.

The side edges 21 and 22 and the top edge 20 may be connected by a quarter circular rounded portion 23 and 24.

The lower forward or outside edges 21 are turned or curved inwardly at 25 to the fold line 26.

At the other end of the vane, the edge 22 extends directly down to the fold line as indicated at 27.

There will be a narrow space 27 adjacent the top edge 20, 28 adjacent the fold edge 21 and 29 adjacent the rear edge 22 in the embodiment shown.

This will permit folding up of the vane B without interference and also will permit positioning of the folded vane in its turned up position as indicated in FIG. 6 without interference from the base strip portion indicated at C and D in FIG. 6.

to Q

The opening formed by the edges 30, 31 and 32 will be covered by the louver construction as is best indicated in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

After the strip A has been die cut as indicated in FIG. 5, it will be folded in the manner indicated in FIG. 6.

Firstly, the vanes B may be turned upwardly along the fold lines 26 and then the neck portion D may be turned upwardly along the fold line 33 which fold line 33 extends along the junction of the rear edges 22 and the oblique fold lines 26 which permit the vanes B to be turned upwardly from the strip A.

In FIGS. 3 and 4, it is indicated how the strip of FIGS. and 6 with the louvers E formed part of the diffuser construction I.

As is indicated in FIG. 3, each oblique strip portion C is positioned against the oblique louver E.

The lower ends of the louvers E are provided with inturned edges 55 into which the lower edge 54 of the strip portion C may be inserted as indicated in FIG. 3.

In this position, the throat portion D will be positioned against and will contact the throat portion F of the louver E upon which it is positioned.

The forward or outside edge 21 of each vane B will contact the inside face of the throat portions F of the louvers E as indicated in FIG. 3.

The inside or rear edges 22 should contact the upwardly turned portion D of the strip A which in turn contacts or is positioned against the throat portion F of the vane E.

The upper or top edge 20 should desirably be slightly below the upper or top edge 56 of the throat portions F and below the upper edge 57 of the upturned strip portion D as is best shown in FIG. 3.

Referring particularly to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the opening formed in the strip A by upturning the vanes B is covered by the louvers E as well as their throat portions F.

These openings are indicated inside of the cut edges 30-31-32 in FIGS. 4, 5 and 6.

The vanes B as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 will extend obliquely the full spacing between the throat portion F of the oblique louvers E and will also extend upwardly from the oblique louvers E close to the outer edge 56 of the throat portion F.

As is indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the oblique vanes B may be used in a series of strips with the vanes B in one row turned in opposite directions from the vanes B in the next adjacent row.

A separate strip as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 may be used for each channel or side K between the outer louvers B.

At the same time four shorter strips may be used in the next inside channel L, one strip being used on each of the four sides.

In the preferred form, each strip A as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 will extend the full length of the spacing between the throat portions F, and in the form shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, there will be four long strips in the channels K and four shorter strips in the channels L.

The diffuser construction as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 may be made of any size and with any number of channels K and L.

The strips then will be cut so as to fit in each channel and have the proper length to extend between the diagonal corner connections at G and cover the full length of each space between the throat portions F of the louvers E.

Although as shown, the strip A is held solely in position by the inserts of its lower edge inside of the upturned edge 55 of the louver E.

It may also be held in position by spot welding or other appropriate means.

By the arrangement shown, it is possible to form the vanes B from a single strip of material and readily mount them in a diffuser construction without individually mounting each vane by spot welding between the adjacent louvers.

The vanes B will each be in the proper position and will extend across the full width and depth of the channel formed louvers E and their portions F as indicated in FIGS. 1 to 4.

To reverse the inclination of the vanes B as is apparent from the showing of FIG. 2, the same die cut structure may be utilized but stamped out so that they will be at an opposite angle from the angle of the vanes in FIGS. 5 and 6.

Each oppositely inclined set of vanes B stamped out from the base strip C will then control the flow and diffusing of air through the diffuser I It is thus apparent that the applicants have provided a simple vane construction which will enable ready mounting in various types of diffusers eliminating separate handling or jigging of individual vanes.

The vane structures may be readily formed of sheet metal material or of relatively lighter gauge, and a less expensive and less costly construction will be achieved.

As many changes could be made in the above diffuser construction and many widely different embodiments of this inventoin could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A method of forming and assembling oblique trapezoidal shaped vanes in a rectangular diffuser of the type having a plurality of spaced parallel oblique outer louvers and internal spaced parallel vertical throat portions extending inwardly from said louvers which comprises the steps of die cutting a strip of material to form said vanes, folding up the die cut vanes from the strip about a fold line then folding upwardly the inside edge of the strip and placing the strip against the faces of the louvers with the upturned inside edge against the vertical throat portion, and mounting the strip upon the lower edge of the outer louver.

2. A continuous integral vane construction for a rectangular diffuser construction of the type having a plurality of spaced parallel oblique outer louvers and internal spaced parallel vertical throat portions extending inwardly from said louvers having a base strip with a plurality of parallel oblique vanes turned upwardly therefrom and an inside throat section turned up from the strip, said base strip to be placed against the louvers and said throat section to be placed against said throat portion.

3. A continuous integral vane construction for a rectangular diffuser construction of the type having a plurality of spaced parallel oblique outer louvers and internal spaced parallel vertical throat portions extending inwardly from said louvers having a base strip with a plurality of parallel oblique vanes turned upwardly therefrom and an inside throat section turned up from the strip, said base strip to be placed against the louvers and said throat section to be placed against said throat portion, said strip having been provided with the oblique fold lines along the base of each oblique vane and there being a space around the edges of each oblique vane in respect to the base strip so that said vanes may be readily turned upon from said base strip without interference.

4. A rectangular diffuser construction of the type having a plurality of spaced parallel oblique outer louvers and internal spaced parallel vertical throat portions extending inwardly from said louvers and continuous integral vane constructions mounted between said oblique outer louvers and said internal spaced parallel vertical 3,217,628 5 6 throat portions each consisting of a base strip with a strip being engaged therein to hold the base strip in plurality of parallel oblique vanes turned upwardly there- Positionfrom and an inside throat section turned up from the References Cited by the Examiner strip, said base strip belng mounted on said oblique 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS louvers and said throat section belng mounted on and 6 3 6 against said throat portions. gggg 8,3 8

5. The difiuser construction of claim 4, the lower ay edges of said louvers having upturned edges forming a ROBERT OIEARY Primary Examinerrecess along said edge and the lower edge of said base 10 EDWARD 1. MICHAEL, Examiner. 

1. A METHOD OF FORMING AND ASSEMBLING OBLIQUE TRAPEZOIDAL SHAPED VANES IN A RECTANGULAR DIFFUSER OF THE TYPE HAVING A PLURALITY OF SPACED PARALLEL OBLIQUE OUTER LOUVERS AND INTERNAL SPACED PARALLEL VERTICAL THROAT PORTIONS EXTENDING INWARDLY FROM SAID LOUVERS WHICH COMPRISES THE STEPS OF DIE CUTTING A STRIP OF MATERIAL TO FORM SAID VANES, FOLDING UP THE DIE CUT VANES FROM THE STRIP ABOUT A FOLD LINE THEN FOLDING UPWARDLY THE INSIDE EDGE OF THE STRIP AND PLACING THE STRIP AGAINST THE FACES OF THE LOUVERS WITH THE UPTURNED INSIDE EDGE AGAINST THE VERTICAL THROAT PORTION, AND MOUNTING THE STRIP UPON THE LOWER EDGE OF THE OUTER LOUVER. 